Gambar Si Jantan yang Sorang

As requested by Zan yang dah lama tak submit entry tu.


Since I'm already submitting an entry, might as well list down some of his progress for future references

• about 7.5kg weighed on 28th.Jun, one day before he turned 5 months old


• can flip on his stomach and back at will


• will produce some cooing sounds with some effort and laughs when his kakak plays peekaboo with him


• not entirely static anymore. starts to move around quite a bit


• can lift up his butt already and has enough bodily strength to go astern


• can hold objects with both hands and put into his mouth but has not been seen passing the objects from one hand to the other


• can definitely recognise his sedara by exhibiting delighted expressions upon seeing ayah and mama coming home from the office. but peekaboo game can only be performed successfully by alyssa. i have tried and failed miserably


• word of caution! athyra has been caught grabbing him by the ankles and pull him towards her on the bed. definitely not safe to leave them together unsupervised especially on the bed, isk!

that's all folks!

The Powder Puff Girls

Lama dah tak tampal gambar anak kat blog. Here are some when they were the flower girls for my niece's wedding over the weekend. Bigger prospect for cucu's in addition to the 2 boys and 1 girl already. All from wifey's side and long way to come from mine.





No photo of the little anak jantan though. Not very trigger-happy with the crappy 2MP camera phone.

Da Little Fella

I am bored obviously. So I'm submitting another entry today which is not quite like me. But anyway, I have not submitted smiling photos of the little fella. So here they are at 3 months old.



As you can see, he can already smile widely with those both dimples showing (though not visible in the photos) and will make those funny faces with big widened eyes, enlarged nostrils and pouty lips trying to squeeze out those ever elusive voice that will occasionally spring out. And yesterday he finally succeeded in turning around, lying on his stomach.

My Take on Gender Inequalities

On parenting boys and girls that is. It is now already 40-odd days since my first boy was born on 29th. January. Oh yeah, since I have not been updating, his name is Mohammad Shaqeef by the way.

1. We are such inefficient creatures: Referring to the utilization of diapers as an example. While girls would thoroughly fill the whole breadth of the diapers, boys would only utilize the frontal portion mostly unless they poop while leaving the rear portion as dry as my butt. Maybe they should produce diapers specifically for boys with those moisture-absorbing materials concentrated mostly at the front portion and leave the rear section with minimal padding. Or, they should design diapers which are fully reversible. Then possibly we could reduce the landfill of diapers by one quarter not to mention being easy on the pockets as well.


2. All about breasts: I have not seen any babies whom would throw tantrums craving for milk while feeding, except for the baby boy. Though I have to admit my scope of watching breastfeeding mothers closely is albeit limited. He just simply could not get enough of it. Reminds me of my long time dear friend Shankar who said to us once in one hot summer Tu lah korang, kecik2 tak mau menyusu puas-puas. Dah besar barula kemaruk tengok... replying to the bountiful fruiting summer season that we had while strolling in the scorching summer heat in the city. To him I would say, my take is that boys (and men alike) and breasts are simply inseparable. Deny them the right to one, they would throw tantrum, regardless of age.


3. We are comfort-craving creatures: Despite the tough, hardcore or suave facade, we the male species crave for comfort that comes in the form of the opposite gender. I am perplexed to see that the baby boy cries most of the time when he is awake and I did not think the three girls were as restless as he was at his age. But then again, this is the baby that I have most contribution on my part, not due to the fact that I had to do many things for him but mostly because wifey is so tied up entertaining him that I have to do more on my part to take care of the other 3 including the adorable, gung ho 17-months old rambut lebat.


4. Smells odd: Seriously! I'm not sure due to the difference in physiology or the fact he has some cradle cap on his head but he sure smells different than the other three as far as I can remember. And I can't recall thinking of the different smells of the three when they were his age.


5. The mother: Not quite related to the gender of the baby but since it was her first C-Section, err how many days to pantang eh?

I guess that's all I could think off for now. I'm sure I would discover more as he grows older, if I get to see him grow older. Al-fatehah to my dear friend Zul whose passing was described by gart in here.

p/s: To Myra, Famy and Diah, I still know I owe you guys the tags huhuhu. At least niat nak buat tu ada lagi.

p/p/s: I know somebody who read this entry would demand a photo. I'll edit later to include his photo ok? No suitable photos with me as of now.

Alyssa's (and Amelya's) Weekends

Back to regular programming I guess after those unintelligible entries.

On Saturday 8 Nov, while I spent the whole day cursing and trying to clean up the mess left by those bachelors living in that rented house for 3 years, the girls went for some photography session for those princessy contest (I had no idea what it was all about. Had to google and found some link there) Actually the contest was only for Alyssa only 6 years and above were eligible to enter but of course, we couldn't let Amelya watched while her big sister was being all princessy and photographed so wifey just played along. And yesterday, we received a text message saying that Alyssa had been shortlisted so I have to find my way to that place on Nov 22nd. I am not really a big fan of asking little girls to dress up and being made up trying to imitate stuff adults would have to do such as dancing and singing but I guess I'll just play along as well for now.

The next day, we had to be around my office even earlier than I would normally be on weekdays for Alyssa's kindy graduation day. Amelya had also taken part in one of the performances by 5 year-olds. Alyssa started off by giving a speech as the wakil pelajar that she had been rehearsing at home (at which I found it hard to correct her pronunciation of everybody who was present that day as a present as in gifts rather than presenting your report when she insisted that her teacher taught her the other way but I was gleaming with smiles when she pronounced it correctly (yes!). No photos of that because I used the videocam to tape the whole three and a half minutes.

Then she narrated a story while either 2 or 3 students acted on what she was narrating and I missed the whole thing completely in answering unfinished nature's business call which I thought had been completely taken care of at home.

Amelya participated in a sing-along choir in which unfortunately the best photo that could be captured above those proud parents' head swarming the stage did not really convey her true emotions while singing.

Fast forward towards the certificate conferment(? can't think of the proper term right now), those are the photos that show how those 6 year olds being lined up to receive their certificates, Alyssa being the final recipient of hers. And Alhamdulillah, she was also selected as one of the best students of her graduation year (one from each gender) and that was her proudly receiving her empty tube with no scrolls inside and continuing the tradition of Lollies' and MsKLSentral's firstborns being selected as the best students of the Kompeni's kindy in their time (Phew! Pressure! Pressure!)

And if you were wondering what Athyra was doing during those 3 hours, she was happily roaming around prying into other people bags and stuff and walking incessantly in and around the open space in the big hall. That was an attempt to get her to fall asleep which wifey had finally succeeded just in time to get us to have the refreshments provided in relative peace.

Raya Celebration and Pregnancy Background

I have no excuse for not updating. No time? I have plenty of time, only used it for something else, not updating the blog. No stories to tell? Plenty, if I include ALL the juicy happenings which might not be printable in the first place ehehe. However, Raya and wifey being pregnant are 2 big occasions that are worthy of an entry by themselves. Since I am lazy I'll combine those 2 in this one.

Maybe I'll adhere to pure chronological event and tell a story that I have been telling others countless numbers of times in real life and chat boxes. About the pregnancy.

If anybody had been paying close attention to my blogs that much, they would notice that I have not even made a single passing mention on the worthy subject prior to Athyra is Walking entry. Not that I wanted to keep it as Highly Classified Information (though we'd like to keep the gender secret *wink wink*) that deserves a place under the OSA but simply owing to the fact that we (we as in me and wifey) did not know about it. After getting her menses for the first few months, she mentioned to me that she had missed one and the test came out negative. I had asked her to go to a clinic for a proper check and ultrasound scan just to make sure and throughout, I've always thought that she actually made the trip to the clinic, and she did not. And the menses never came back with innocent breastfeeding as the wrongly-blamed culprit.

In the absence of morning sickness and any other related telltale signs, she was only convinced to actually pay a visit to an O&G only after she felt some kind of movements and I went along just to make sure. Surely enough, she was estimated to be 20 weeks pregnant and the not-so-little worm thriving inside was almost half a kilo already with the EDD around late January or early February. And my sweet little adorable Athyra would be around 1 year 3 months by then.

So, there you have it. Hopefully I won't have to repeat the story again after this. I think I am way beyond broken records already ehehe.

Ok now about raya. Of course, apart from the usual commute back and forth between one PD to another (my kampung is also a PD you know? Grandfather's Swamp), this was the first raya without my father. As much as we would like to remember him in our prayers and celebration, the living keeps on living, right? My fear was mostly for my mother and thankfully she seemed to be strong enough to be going through it alone among the full regiment of my siblings and their children. Again, we did not take a group photo this year (which we did not last year) and those limited photos that I put up in my FB was taken with a measly phone. How I wished I had a proper camera, compact or DSLR to prop up the mood of photo sessions.

I also gave the usual raya BBQ routine that we have on the eve of the second or third day of raya which had been going on for many years this year a miss and I do not even know if they did have one in the first place because by the that time, my Raya time in my kampung has ended as we made our final stop in PD with my in-laws.

We spent the whole day of Saturday visiting wifey's a few of wifey's sisters houses and I spent the night glued to Time Traveller's Wife while wifey needs to come up with the usual things required for a menerima and engagement ceremony. Oh yeah. I almost forgot to mention that I finally unwrapped the book from its pristine, transparent cover and got through it over the raya period. My verdict, a very technical love story, most possibly a tear-jerker for the fairer sex and I like it. Not the run-of-the-mill love story and I am pretty intrigued on the subjects that they do talk about within their daily conversations. Sounds pretty unreal to me but then again, he was a librarian whom thrives on books anyway.

Ok back to the topic at hand. The engagement ceremony was performed on Sunday, the fifth day of raya, complete with dais and my 2 girls were selected as the accompanying flower girls. It went on until around 3 o'clock. After some acts of trying to look busy helping out with the cleaning bit, we made our way back to KL around 6pm. Except for the half hour queue at a right-turning traffic light junction, traffic was smooth on the trunk road and thank goodness I don't have to endure that multiple hours traffic jam in those main arterial highways nationwide.

I guess that's all I can say in this ironically very muted entry. And a longwinded one at it as well

Three Cheers for Athyra

Remember in this little update I mentioned that Athyra was already taking baby steps? And now I would like to present.... The Walking Athyra!!! (clap! clap! clap!)

Ok. That may be a little bit of over-dramatization but Alhamdulillah, Athyra is now finally walking, if you can call getting upright, taking a few steps, moving all around to balance while taking those several steps, tumbling and diving into whatever that can be perceived as safe haven and repeat the cycle again as walking. I would love to take Athyra's photo again in that Aqiqah ceremony outfit but this will do for now.

My little Athyra, now taking the gigantic leap towards toddler-hood. Towards being independent. Preparing herself to be a big sister come February 2009.

Athyra's Aqiqah Ceremony

We went back to our hometown at 3:00pm on Friday, the day before the ceremony. I was somehow too tired to even witness the slaying of the cow. Slept through the whole event and only woke up to help out cut out the meat into edible pieces.

I do notice that this is my third consecutive posts featuring this little, generously-haired little person. However, there were some requests of the photo of the dress being put on the intended person so here it is.

In danger of becoming a trend, I also missed the marhaban ceremony. I was grudgingly negotiating the low pressure shower in the bathroom due to water being utilised extensively somewhere else hence a extended version of the routine (which is quite long in its optimal state. By the time I was properly dressed in that purple baju melayu and adorned with a decorated songkok, the ceremony was already over. The photo that you see of her was captured by some other person and Alyssa whom were entrusted to take photos was more interested to capture the regiment of marhabannis (if I could call them that) instead of taking snapshots of Athyra's crown being snipped away. Thankfully, her thick locks survived the ideal almost unscathed and we have long decided before not to shave it off. If you must know, that photo there was taken after the ceremony and there is not much visible change to her glorious crown.

Despite the last minute notification by a text message in the previous night, 2 missed calls and an unreplied text message from her, Lollies did make it to the event, awakening me from my deep slumber after the marhabban ceremony was done when she arrived at around 1pm. Thank you Lollies! I am not sure whether they had enough to eat or not but I made sure to ask them to the point of irritation whether if they have had enough to eat. And they (Mr Lollies, Lollies and and the Lollies Junior) stayed well over until 4pm when they decided to make a move before I stopped them because Rotidua gave me a call saying that she was still deciding to drop by 5 km away from my parents' en route to her own hometown to pick up her children.

In the end, Rotinotti decided not to stop by despite seeing me from the main road chatting away in those purple baju melayu with Lollies. Lollies' theory was not she was not in her best tudung and mine was that the sight of me could be compared to how it was described by Fahri in Ayat² Cinta as a drop of dew dropping onto his heart, very soothing and clearing off any doubts whatsoever upon his choice of bride. No I have not read the book nor saw the movie and that description was purely a regurgitation of a third party narration and that description could be slightly of-tangent so forgive my ignorance if you must. And due to such an overwhelming feeling, Roti got cold feet and decided not to drop by (ahahaha!).

Anyway, the second photo is the one I took myself after somebody knocked some senses into me and by that time, all the actions were over and our celebrity of the day was getting her beauty sleep to survive another day.

Somehow I have not been in this kind of blogging mood for a while and it is more than obvious that this rambling has been a lot more than necessary to describe a small occasion by any measure of grandness. It could be due to the fact that I have been very well-rested over the weekend despite having to participate in 2 kenduris and 1 birthday party all within the course of 2 days covering some distance in excess of 300kms. With that, I bade farewell, for now, before I go on and on boring all the readers to death.

Invitation to Athyra's Aqiqah

I haven't been posting many comments lately even though I have been a silent reader for most of the alerts that was received via my reader. Pretty distracted lately with work and other things. Life has been quite a topsy-turvy affair, good or bad depending on your perspective. Nothing much more than that I could possibly put down in here so I'll leave that as that. Notwithstanding, I have been well, should you be wondering. We shall get down to business then.

We would be having Athyra's kenduri aqiqah in the Land of the Mousedeer tomorrow Saturday 11:45am. So if you happen to pass by the area, please drop by and give me a call for direction. If you don't have my number, err how to give out eh? Can try e-mailing me or ask from lollies, gartblue, zan, olab, rotinina and some other people who has my number i think, if they haven't deleted it from their phone book eheheh.

She would be wearing this lilac-laced beige dress, finally completed by wifey last night which I think looked really nice especially considering that she had never been in any formal sewing class. I might not talk much about my wife in here (ehehehe!). maybe 1 day I'll put a compilation of her works in the house. Quite impressive, I'd have to say (puji isteriku sekali-sekala :))

So people, anybody who is interested in attending this gala event, please buzz me. This is not an ajak-ajak ayam kind of invitation. I would really appreciate it if anybody could join us

Little Updates

Some little updates more towards self-reminder thingy.

• Athyra is taking baby steps just now. Hopefully she'll be walking by raya time to wear that little creamy-purplish dress made by wifey last night gracefully.


• Atypically received enough sleep for 2 nights in a row. Yesterday night, slept at 8.30pm due to sleep deprivation. Last night? "Forced" to sleep early due to the above. The bane of having the PC and sewing machine occupying the same table.


• Hope of weaning Amelya of that nightly diapers somehow disappeared. Few nights ago, she was dry for 4 nights in a row. Not quite for 2 days now.


• I know those before bedtime spelling bouts with Alyssa is very beneficial. Let's see how long it could last. Have to think of more intermediate words for her.

note: picture is for illustration purposes only. no relation to entry whatsoever. taken in the car en route to work this morning